When Scientologists Talk To Each Other About Scientology

March 1, 2012

I felt precious IQ draining away as I watched this video a few times, and I may not actually be doing our readers a service by subjecting them to it.

But sometimes, it’s important to counter Scientology’s preferred public image — as a somewhat vague and possibly glamorous undertaking that appeals to beautiful people like Tom Cruise — with the reality of what Scientologists actually say to each other when they try to convince each other to fork over large amounts of cash to “move up the Bridge to Total Freedom.”

I know it’s difficult, but please stick with this video so you can see the testimonials that start showing up about the 5-minute mark. And keep in mind — these are people getting into the higher levels of a spiritual journey that promises to make them among the most brilliant and unhindered beings on the planet, and well on their way to superhuman status…

Rather than try to explain all of the jargon in this video, I’m posting this quickly so our illustrious commenting community can do what it does best and take this thing apart down to its fasteners and grease.

Commenters, please point out your favorite passage, and help beginners understand what in the blazes these people are talking about. The service you provide humanity will be priceless.

(For those new to the bewildering jargon of Scientology, please start with our primer, “What is Scientology?” And if you’ve never heard of the church’s private cruise ship, please read the harrowing tales of what it’s like to work on the barge in our interviews with Valeska Paris and Ramana Dienes-Browning.)

**********Tony Ortega has been the editor in chief of the Village Voice since March, 2007. He started writing about Scientology in 1995. You can reach him by e-mail at tortega@villagevoice.com, and if you ask nicely he’ll put you on his mailing list for notifications of new stories, which tend to come out each and every morning at 8 am, but can suddenly appear at any time of the day. You can also catch his alerts at Twitter (@VoiceTonyO), at his Facebook author page, and even this new Google Plus doohickey.